Poland and Polish Discussion Group and Forum

Welcome to the original English language Poland and Polish discussion group board. This message forum is a place where English-speaking Poles, foreigners (expats) living in Poland, and anyone with a genuine interest in Poland can discuss and read the views of others concerning Poland. Subjects include: Polish news and current affairs; Life in Poland; politics; genealogy research; Polish culture and history; advice and tips on visiting Poland; Polish property and investment issues. The aim of our group is to increase awareness of wonderful Poland using the English language and allow and foster the honest debate and exchange of opinions on anything vaguely related to Poland and Polish - positive, negative and/or neutral! To state the obvious: all opinions and views expressed on this site are solely those of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of anyone else! Messages consisting of ads will be deleted.

VIENNA, Austria — UEFA has no contingency plan for the 2012 European Championship if co-hosts Poland and Ukraine are unable to meet construction deadlines.

Ukrainian Football Federation vice-president Boris Voskresensky told Russian newspaper Sport Express that the company renovating the 80,000-seat Kyiv Olympic stadium is "incapable" of finishing the job on time due to a lack of necessary materials and resources.

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said Thursday that president Michel Platini will lead a delegation after Euro 2008 and visit the co-hosts from July 1 to gauge the organizational progress.

"At this stage, we are not discussing any Plan B in terms of new countries," Gaillard said. "There are alternative scenarios, there are proposed different cities within Poland and Ukraine - like Krakow and Odessa - which could host matches.

"We want to make some decisions by the summer on whether we need to construct a Plan B in Ukraine and Poland or outside (of those countries). Much of that will depend on what we find out in July. At this stage, we are still hopeful and optimistic that everything will be fine there."

UEFA had already given Poland and Ukraine an ultimatum in January to work faster.

"In January, we gave them four to six months to fix things and give us a progress report," Gaillard said. "At this point we are not more concerned than we were in January, but at the same time we are not less concerned.

"We don't have a contingency plan, because once you look at a championship, normally this is where the competition goes. So we never allocated this championship with a thought in the back of our mind that we would have to reallocate it later on."

Scotland has reportedly told UEFA it could step in and host the tournament.

Police on Sunday arrested 100 German hooligans in Klagenfurt, Austria for provoking Polish fans with Nazi-like slogans during Germany's European Championship match against Poland.

The two sets of fans had arrived in Klagenfurt to watch the Euro 2008 Group B game between Germany and Poland in the city's fan zone.

A police spokesperson told German news agency DPA that a group of 60 Germans started chanting right-wing slogans at a group of Polish fans, saying things such as "all Poles should wear a yellow star" -- an allusion to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany.

The Germans were then surrounded and arrested.

Shortly after the match started, another group of 40 German hooligans attempted to provoke the Polish fans again. They too were arrested.

Police said the hooligans would be charge with causing a nuisance and deported.

The Austrian Press Agency reported that several German and Polish fans had also engaged in physical clashes in the fan zone after Germany took a 1-0 lead. Germany won the game 2-0.

On Saturday, police arrested 17 people, but nine of these had been released on Sunday.

Poland fan sentenced by Austrian court for resisting arrest at European Championship

KLAGENFURT, Austria - A Poland fan at the European Championship was given a five-month suspended sentence by a court in southern Austria on Friday for attempting to resist arrest.

Bernd Lutschounig, a spokesman for the court in Klagenfurt, said the man had been in custody since Sunday and will soon be leaving the country.

The man, who has not been identified and has been released from custody, will not have to serve his sentence unless he commits another crime on Austria soil, Lutschounig said, without providing more details.

The Austria Press Agency quoted a prosecution spokesman as saying that the man was involved in a skirmish between rival fans in Klagenfurt late Saturday, during which he lashed out at police and resisted arrest. The incident occurred after Germany defeated Poland 2-0 in the city's stadium.

"Very disturbing such ideas are alive and well in 21st century Germany…"

I don't really find it disturbing because these days it seems to be so predictable and stems from deep rooted insecurities. If you claim to be the world guardians of high culture you should show it by exemplary behaviour at events like this.

I believe Germans as a nation are having a bit of an identity crisis in these days of an enlarged EU and the economic strength of China, but that's another discussion...